1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a printing apparatus for recording onto a recording medium by jetting ink fluid.
2. Description of Related Art
A printing apparatus for recording onto a recording medium by jetting ink is known. The known apparatus has a print head for printing by jetting ink onto a recording medium, a carriage on which the print head is mounted and which is provided so as to be movable along a guide rail, and carriage moving means for moving the carriage. In such an apparatus, in order to assure a predetermined printing performance upon assembly and to assure a preferable printing performance irrespective of the thickness of a recording medium, gap instructing means or a gap adjusting mechanism for setting the amount of a head gap as an interval between the print head and the recording medium (the surface of a platen) is provided.
Also known is a printing apparatus for which the user sets the amount of the head gap on the basis of the gap instructing means, thereby adjusting the head gap by using the gap adjusting mechanism. In order to maintain a preferable ink discharging state of the print head, a purging device for sucking and removing ink in the print head, while covering the print head by a suction cap, and a wiping device for wiping a nozzle face of the print head by a wiping member are known.
At the time of adjustment of the head gap, when the position of the print head is changed in order to adjust the interval between the recording medium and the print head, the interval between the suction cap or wiping member and the print head is accordingly changed.
Especially, when the print head is moved so as to be away from the recording medium in order to adjust the head gap, the interval between the suction cap or wiping member and the print head is widened. As a result, in these known printing apparatuses, the air tightness of the suction cap covering the nozzle face of the print head is deteriorated and the ink in the head cannot be effectively sucked. The wiping member also cannot wipe the nozzle face of the head with a necessary force to obtain proper cleaning. As mentioned above, when the distance between the suction cap or wiping member and the print head is changed, there is a problem that the capping performance of the suction cap and the wiping performance of the wiping member vary and are degraded in at least some cases.